


The Mask

by FrayFray



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-07-13
Packaged: 2018-07-23 20:50:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7479492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrayFray/pseuds/FrayFray
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lord Vader has served the Emperor faithfully, and now the time has come to make the ultimate show of devotion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mask

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place shortly after Paul Kemp's novel "Lords of the Sith", and is based on the prequel trilogy plot proposed by BelatedMedia. Also assumes that The Force Awakens is still canon.

In the chaos following the Battle of Mustafar, Anakin Skywalker, or as he had been re-styled, Lord Vader, became Emperor Palpatine's constant companion. Wherever his Highness went, conducting the business of the fledgling Empire, Vader was with him. He cut an impressive figure with his poster boy good looks; enhanced, many said, by the scar that bisected his left cheek. High ranking diplomats would stomach attendance at Imperial court just so they might catch a glimpse of the Emperor’s young protégé.  
For his part, Vader always deflected their flattery politely and bolder advances with small infusions of Force assisted suggestiveness. Gifts were returned with a note expressing gratitude but lamenting the inappropriateness and offers of wealth and land were met with a declaration that the Emperor’s trust and tutelage were all that Vader needed in life.  
What his admirers didn’t know, couldn’t know, was that beyond his calm façade, Vader was in turmoil. It was well hidden by the folds of his black robes, but the former Jedi’s limbs were no longer his own. Steel had taken the place of flesh, wires of nerves.  
Darker secrets still were contained within Vader’s skull. As the Empire expanded and solidified its hold on power in the galaxy, rumours began to spread of the ruthlessness with which Vader persecuted those wars. During the Clone Wars, his heroism had been legendary and was still on display. But other, less noble things were committed in the Empire’s name. In the conquest of Kashyyyk for instance, Vader had duelled with a rebellious Jedi and there had been significant cost to the Imperial troops fighting at his side, with many suspecting Vader had slain them himself. With these dark rumours came a dark change in Vader’s demeanour. He became more withdrawn and less sociable, often returning the kind words he received with silence or brusque dismissal.  
Things came to a head during the Ryloth insurgency. When the Emperor and Lord Vader were successfully extracted from the planet’s surface, the stormtrooper legion noted a village of slaughtered Twi’lek’s in the vicinity. On top of this, Vader’s sudden removal to the medical wing of the star destroyer. 

“What is wrong with him?” Palpatine asked the medical droid.  
“An advanced lung condition,” the droid chimed, “His respiratory system had already suffered significant scarring. Now highly malignant tumours are attacking the surviving tissue. Did Lord Vader undergo a great deal of physical exertion on Ryloth?”  
The Emperor glanced at the droid imperiously, but it did not seem to notice, “Yes.”  
“That exertion may have exacerbated his condition. Without it, he could have lived another 10 to 20 years before this began causing serious problems. Now it will kill him.”  
“What can be done for him?” the Emperor demanded. Lord Vader’s effectiveness had already been stymied by the limbs he had lost in his duel against Obi-Wan Kenobi. To learn that his apprentice would soon be unable to breathe was beyond the pale. The scarring could be attributed to the poison air of Mustafar while the tumours were almost certainly the effect of Lord Vader’s increased immersion in the dark side of the Force. Palpatine had to admit, he had been surprised by Vader’s ferocity on Ryloth. For the last ten years, Vader seemed to have been balanced on an equilibrium. But Ryloth had pushed him over the edge.  
“Immersion in a personal respiration unit to assist his breathing,” the medical droid announced, cutting through Palpatine’s contemplation.  
Palpatine considered. “Will he still be able to move and fight?”  
“Affirmative.”  
“Then do it, as soon as we return to Coruscant.”

Vader lay, staring at the white ceiling of the medical centre. He had heard every word of the exchange and for the first time in many years, he felt fear.  
He had long believed that he would die in his master’s service. Long before Ryloth, he had felt the malignance within him. He hadn’t needed a medical droid’s diagnosis to tell him he was dying. In a way, Vader felt as though he’d been dying since that day on Mustafar when Obi-Wan had taken his limbs and his sabre. Even so, he had served his master faithfully, done things he was both proud and ashamed of and even strayed outside the scope of Palpatine’s orders. One thing that had become clear to Vader, as the years went by and the Galactic Republic faded from memory, was that Palpatine had lied to him. Everything from manipulating Vader into murdering Darth Maul to placing the Jedi on the frontlines of the Battle of Mustafar had been done with an ulterior motive and Vader had been blind to it all along.  
Now, learning that he wasn’t going to be allowed to die, terrified Vader on some fundamental level. Palpatine had once told him that the relationship between a Sith master and their apprentices was built on strength from the former and loyalty from the latter. If the master wavered in their strength, it was the apprentices’ duty to kill them, and vice versa if the apprentice wavered in their loyalty. So Vader had served, waiting for his opportunity to either remove his master or find his own way out of his service. Now it seemed he never would find either.  
“Are you comfortable my friend?”  
Palpatine’s voice cut through Vader’s misery. “Yes my master,” he replied cautiously. He never could be certain how much of his thoughts Palpatine was able to read.  
“The medical droid has made a recommendation,” Palpatine told him, “Did you hear it.”  
“I did.”  
“And?”  
Vader took a deep breath and then coughed harshly, “I live only to do your will my master. If this is your will then so be it.”  
Palpatine smiled, the kind, fatherly smile he reserved for diplomats he was trying to coerce, “Your devotion is appreciated Lord Vader.”  
With that, the Emperor swept from the room.  
Vader lay back, and stared at the white panelled ceiling. A single tear escaped from the corner of his eye and rolled across his temple, into his hairline. 

Lord Vader was transferred from the medical bay aboard the star destroyer to a shuttle and from the shuttle to the Emperor’s private medical facility. It was raining in that sector of Coruscant when the ship touched down, and Vader savoured it, wondering if he would ever feel rain on his skin again in his life.  
The procedure began with augmentation to his chest cavity, allowing his lungs a greater ability to expand to compensate for the tumours. Then his neck and the lower half of his face was encased in a plastek mask with an attached respirator grill. The upper half of the mask went over his eyes and nose. As it was lowered, Vader took a last look at his surroundings and struggled to breath once more as fear welled up inside him. Then the mask was secured in place with a locking helmet. Once it was all sealed, Vader realised he could hear his own breathing, a loud “HOOOOOR PURRR” of inhalation and exhalation.  
“Lord Vader?” Palpatine asked, “Can you hear me?”  
“Yes, my master.” Vader replied, his voice now an amplified rumbling.  
“Show him,” Palpatine instructed the medical droid.  
A hologram appeared before Vader. A towering figure clad in black armour and robes, with a snub nosed mask and helmet wear the face should be.  
“You shall terrify our enemies Lord Vader!” Palpatine crowed, “They will be filled with fear at the very sound of your name!”  
Then I will share that with them, Vader thought, Oh Force save me, I am lost.


End file.
